Protective pad for use during athletic activities

ABSTRACT

A protective pad to be employed by a person engaged in athletic activity utilizes to protect the user&#39;s hands formed from a very thin rectangular piece of rubber having a thickness of approximately 0.032 inch. On the top side of the protective pad are located treads upraised from the top surface of the pad. The treads are evenly spaced and approximately ½ inch apart and have triangular cross sections. The bottom side of the protective, which is the side placed against the grip portion of the piece of athletic equipment, is generally flat and has a tacky surface. The user wraps the protective pad around the grip portion of the piece of athletic equipment with the bottom tacky side of the pad adjacent to the grip.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application is related to and claims priority and a filing date ofthe Provisional Application bearing Application No. 61/189,541 and afiling date of Aug. 21, 2008.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a protective pad for use during athleticactivities and more specifically a substantially rectangular flatprotective pad formed from thin rubber or a flexible material havingtreads on one surface and is tacky on the opposite surface.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Weight training is a common type of strength training for developing thestrength and size of skeletal muscles. It uses the force of gravity (inthe form of weighted bars, dumbbells or weighted stacks) to oppose theforce generated by muscle through concentric or eccentric contraction.Weight training uses a variety of specialized equipment to targetspecific muscle groups and types of movement. Weight training differsfrom bodybuilding, weightlifting, powerlifting and strongman, which aresports rather than forms of exercise. Weight training, however, is oftenpart of the athlete's training regimen. Weight training can be one ofthe safest forms of exercise, especially when the movements are slow,controlled and carefully defined. However, as with any form of exercise,improper execution can result in injury. Aside from the obvious dangerssuch as pulled muscles, weight trainers must also look out for theirhands. Applying too much pressure on the bars and handles can quicklyresult in painful blisters and unattractive calluses. To help preventthis, weight trainers typically employ protective gloves, wearing theseas they work out. Unfortunately, gloves can present a couple ofchallenges. Particularly, these athletic accessories tend to be quiteexpensive, and can provide an impractical expense for many. In addition,most weight trainers feel that the gloves can hinder hand control,resulting in slippage as well as inaccurate weight pressure.

Revealed in the prior art are several devices to be employed either asgripping aids or protective pads for gripping weights or for use withother such devices having grips or handles. None of the prior art,however, includes all of the unique combination of elements of thepresent invention protective pad, which unique elements are disclosedherein. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,183,400 B1, entitled Hand at RestGrip, issued to Pope on Feb. 6, 2001 discloses an attachment device fordumbbells and the like. The device is made up of two parts hingedlyattached together to form a grasping area. Another example is disclosedin U.S. Pat. No. 6,988,295 B2 issued to Tillim on Jun. 24, 2006 whichpatent shows an apparatus for gripping.

As none of the prior art disclosed the combination of elements of thepresent invention, the following are objectives of the protective paddisclosed herein. The protective pad would be simple to manufacture andlightweight and therefore facilitates the athlete carrying one orseveral of the pads of the present invention in his or her gym bag. Thepad is manufactured from durable yet comfortable very thin rubberizedmaterial and is generally rectangular. On the top side of the invention,which is the side adjacent to the user's hands during employment, aredisposed a plurality of treads to improve gripability and tactile feel.The bottom side of the invention is generally flat with a tacky orstatic surface which slightly adheres to the grip of the dumbbell.

One object of the present invention is to absorb pressure placed ontothe hands during the course of weight training thereby providing theuser with a comfortable grip. Another objective of the present inventionis to provide the user with a firm and stable grip onto the grippingportion of an exercise machine or barbell or dumbbell. This in turnobviates the necessity for the athlete to purchase, carry and employmore expensive, yet clumsier weight training gloves. A further advantageof the present invention is that the protective pad of the presentinvention could be utilized in a wide variety of athletic endeavors suchas in connection with golf, tennis baseball and the like.

Other objects, advantages and novel features, and further scope ofapplicability of the present invention will be set forth in the detaileddescription to follow, taken in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art,upon examination of the following, or may be learned by practice of theinvention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realizedand attained by means of instrumentalities and combinations particularlypointed out in the appended claim or claims.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a protective pad to be employed by a personengaged in an athletic activity to protect the user's hands from thegrip portion of a piece of athletic equipment. The protective pad isformed from a rectangular piece of very thin rubber having a thicknessof approximately 0.032 inch. On the top side of the protective pad arelocated treads which treads are upraised from the top surface of thepad. The treads are evenly spaced and approximately ½ inch apart andhave triangular cross sections. The top side of the protective pad isthe side that is adjacent to the user's hand during employment. Thebottom side of the protective pad does not have treads. Instead, thebottom side, which is the side placed against the grip portion of thepiece of athletic equipment, is generally flat and has a tacky surface.The user wraps the protective pad around the grip portion of the pieceof athletic equipment with the bottom tacky side of the pad adjacent tothe grip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the present invention, reference is madeto the following description of an exemplary embodiment thereof,considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a top view of the present invention showing the invention topside up.

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional detail view of the present invention, thesection taken at A of FIG. 2, showing one of the treads.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is a protective pad 10 that a person training withweights or involved in other such athletic activity utilizes to protecthis or her hand completely while providing the best grip available ontothe weights, dumbbells or sporting equipment. The pad is formed as aflat sheet of very thin flexible material having a top surface 12 and abottom surface. As disclosed herein, the protective pad is formed fromrubber, although another moldable, flexible material could be utilized.The preferred material from which the protective pad is formed is 40durometer butyl and the preferred thickness of the flat sheet isapproximately 0.032 inch. In any event, the thickness of the pad is in arange from 0.028 inch to 0.036 inch.

Looking now at the drawings, the protective pad for use during weighttraining 10 of the present invention is generally rectangular in shape.The exact shape and dimension of the present invention are not critical.However, as disclosed herein, the protective pad measures approximately4 inches by 4.5 inches which is a utilitarian size that fits mostpeople's hands comfortably and conveniently yet can be easily adjustedto fit everyone and conveniently adapts to cover the grip portion of atypical barbell, dumbbell or exercise machine.

On the top side of the protective pad are situated treads 14. The treadsare slightly raised above the top surface of the protective pad. Asshown in the preferred embodiment, the treads are evenly spaced apartacross the top surface of the pad. More specifically, the treads arespaced approximately ½ inch apart with the first and last tread locatedapproximately ¼ inch from the four-inch side of the pad. As such, in thepreferred embodiment, there are typically nine treads extending acrossthe five-inch span of the pad.

Looking at FIG. 2 which is a cross-sectional view and FIG. 3 which iscross-sectional view of one of the treads of the invention which sectionis taken at ‘A’ of FIG. 2, it can be appreciated that the treads areraised above the top surface of the protective pad and are generallytriangular in cross-section. The two side walls of each side of theupraised tread are angled approximately 58.89° apart. Each tread reachesa height of approximately 0.031 inch above the top surface of theprotective pad.

The bottom surface of the protective pad, which is the surface that isplaced against the grip of the barbell or weight does not containtreads. Instead, the bottom surface is generally flat and has a tackysurface which facilitates a better grip.

To utilize the present invention, the user wraps the protective padaround the grip portion of the handle of the barbell or other suchathletic equipment. Typically, the user would employ two protectivepads, one for each hand. The flat, tacky bottom side of the protectivepad is placed against the grip of the equipment. The top side, i.e. theside with the treads of the protective pad, is positioned next to theuser's hand. Now, the protective pad is wrapped around the grip portionof the athletic equipment. In this way, the protective pad serves as aprotective pad between the grip of the equipment and the user's hand andabsorbs the pressure applied to the hand.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles andpreferred embodiment of the invention. Furthermore, since numerouschanges and modifications will readily occur to one skilled in the art,it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction,operation and embodiment shown and described, and accordingly allsuitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, fallingwithin the scope of the invention.

1. A protective pad for protecting an athlete's hand from the gripportion of a piece of athletic equipment comprising: a rectangular flatflexible sheet of rubberized material having a thickness in the range of0.028 inch to 0.036 inch, said sheet of material having a top surfaceand a bottom surface, said bottom surface being tacky, said top surfacehaving treads upraised from its surface, said treads having a triangularcross section, said treads between spaced apart at equal intervals;whereby a user wraps the pad around the grip portion of the piece ofathletic equipment with the said bottom surface adjacent to the gripportion.
 2. A protective pad for protecting an athlete's hand from thegrip portion of a piece of athletic equipment comprising: a flatflexible sheet of material, said sheet of material having a top surfaceand a bottom surface, said bottom surface being tacky, said top surfacehaving treads upraised from its surface, said treads between spacedapart at equal intervals; whereby a user wraps the pad around the gripportion of the piece of athletic equipment with the said bottom surfaceadjacent to the grip portion.